The Big Heat. 1953. USA. Directed by Fritz Lang. Screenplay by Sydney Boehm, based on the novel by William P. McGivern. With Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin. 89 min.
Fritz Lang's brutal noir masterpiece stands as one of the director's most potent examinations of violence and moral corruption in American society. Glenn Ford stars as Dave Bannion, a straight-arrow detective whose investigation of a fellow officer's suicide leads him into a nightmarish underworld where the police and organized crime operate as virtual partners. When the mob retaliates by killing his wife (Jocelyn Brando), Bannion's righteous quest for justice transforms into an obsessive drive for vengeance.
Gloria Grahame delivers her defining performance as Debby Marsh, the gangster's moll whose mutilation at the hands of sadistic thug Vince Stone (Lee Marvin) leads her to join Bannion's crusade. Her character's transformation from cynical survivor to avenging angel provides the emotional core of a film that asks difficult questions about the price of justice in a corrupt world.